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bsdIf i promise, will you believe me ? Why ? Isn't it still just a matter of words.Obviously words can be powerful and when we sign our name to them its as if were putting a part of ourselves inside. And then theres so much more riding on them.Pays to be carefull!Have a good one; h

Today I am about to cook up my Korean Fire Meat (Buhl Gohgeeh) using a new recipe that doesn't have my infamous secret ingredient nor anything that does a similar job. . . I will post pictures either here and/or in the WLDG Culinary Forum later on.I have brought four bottles of wine to contribute to Shabbat Dinner: Unfortunately at my friends' house, they strictly do kiddush over grape juice, but we will start our drinking with the newly released Tzuba Sangiovese-Nebbiolo, 2006, then the Galil Mountain CS, 2006 which I haven't drank enough of this past year, then the Yatir Shani Rose, 2005, and finishing off with what will be my fifth tasting so far of the brand new Tabor Pninim/Pearls, 2007 (I still have not seen any bottles in sight at the store Shachar in Emeq Refayim in Jerusalem, who is the co-sponsor/wine sale sales support of the Jerusalem Wine Festival, and last Friday I didn't see any of this at Wine Route in Tel Aviv either).

I forget exactly what will be for lunch, but we will be tasting a bottle of Galil Mountain Merlot, 2006.

Harry J wrote:bsdIf i promise, will you believe me ? Why ? Isn't it still just a matter of words.Obviously words can be powerful and when we sign our name to them its as if were putting a part of ourselves inside. And then theres so much more riding on them.Pays to be carefull!Have a good one; h

It was Topsy, and not an Orthodox Jew who coined the phrase "Lawsy,Lawsy", but it seems appropriate in this case

Many Orthodox Jews open all of their correspondences with the letters "bsd", that deriving from pre-Hebrew Aramaic and meaning BeSayata Deshemia or, in English, "with the help of Heaven". In one sense this is a manner of warding off the evil eye, in another an acknowlegement of the power of the almighty in our everyday affairs.

As in the question of kosher wines on another thread, all such inquiries are most welcome and none will be perceived as embarassing. In fact, for me as a not-at-all observant Jew it is both a challenge and a pleasure to answer some of these questions. I'll try to intervene and define in future cases where terminology may be in question. In some cases our more observant forum members may correct me and that's fine too.

For Friday night dinner I opened a bottle of Recanati's Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 2007, my third encounter with the wine with consistent impressions. Light yellow with green shades in color, rich fruit on the nose with grapefruit and tropical fruit (melons?), some light herbal notes, medium bodied with high acidity, nice fruit and some salinity and mineral notes. Went very well with baked salmon in olive oil and herbs that my mom cooked. A rather nice sauv-blan, but to my taste the acidity is slightly too high and I prefer my sauvs a bit lighter. Prefered the 2006 vintage (which was considerably cheaper as well), which showed, IMHO more elegancy. Still a good white. 60-65NIS (~18$).

Simple dinner tonight of tagliatelle with butter, a light sprinkling of Parmesan and overall grated Piedmont white truffles. With that a bottle of the 2003 Margalit Enigma (Israel). Much enjoyed and as dessert a small cheese platter with the same wine.

EY Han wrote:bsdKorean Fire Meat (Buhl Gohgeeh) using a new recipe that doesn't have my infamous secret ingredient nor anything that does a similar job. . . I will post pictures either here and/or in the WLDG Culinary Forum later on.

I also forgot to mention that I had one more space for a bottle of cooking wine to give my friend, so I took the bottle of Carmel Selected CS, 2005 that a guest for last Shabbat lunch brought. I tasted it out of the bottle to see how it might fit with my dish, and it was almost verging vinegar-likeness so I didn't bother tainting my first shot at this new recipe (I usually put a generous tablespoon of some leftover red wine. My friend was happy to use the wine in some salad dressing, which understandably would be a good fit…I ended up using some more of this wine for the post-Shabbat Havdalah blessing tonight, and HAD to bear drinking the minimal amount in order to do an after-blessing on the consumption.

I ate out at a friend's house this Friday night and was a bit disappointed to see a bottle of Teal Lake Cab-Merlot 2006 on the table, but surprisingly it was less, well, blah than most of the Teal Lake that I've had in the past. Still not great by any means, but somewhat enjoyable with simple berry and fruit juice notes. A pleasant surprise.

Wound up going with the 2005 Four Gates "La Rochelle" Merlot. Harmonious wine with the dark fruits in good balance with the oak. Fairly dense but lacking the backbone of its sister (brother) wine (2005 "MSC" Merlot) which is not necessarily a detractor, just a difference. Enjoyed by all. Remained quite good for Saturday lunch.

HiFriday night i opened a Chateau Leoville Poyferre 2001, a lovly wine !! a nose that doesn't finish i could be there sniffing and inhailing all night long very classic brdx nose but on palate a bit thiner then i remember (08/07) anyway very nice wine, with a finish that was prittie long, i basicly finished the btl. by day i had a guest that i know he doesn't like dry not knowing what to serve, i picked in a shop a Rashi Malvasia 2005 (sparkling) , first of all if you want/like this wine definitly go for the Bartenura, it was very well chilled and overall okkeei BUT .... the fizz 80% gone and twards the finish the sweetnes drops and becomes dry-ish , a confused wine . but again when well chilled it was a nice quaffer

Simple shabbos, so I thought I would whip out a bottle I had heard mixed reviews about. Unfortunately, I side on the slightly negative side. I love wines with character, complexity, a sense of place, and balance among fruit, body and acidity. Preferably, nothing in extremes - other than tannin and weight. This wine though, was all over the place - just my 2 cents...

Yarden Katzrin Chardonnay 2003 - Score B+This was a nice wine - just not what I was hoping for. I love fruity yet complex white wines. Wines with a body and fruit that play off each other and have enough acidity to keep the fruit in check. In the end, this one was just being overpowered by the oak. Way too much of it. There was still fruit, but the oak and the over the top acidity was not in balance - it felt all over the place.

The nose on this golden colored wine had notes of peach and nectarine along with a huge dollop of oak. The mouth on this medium+ bodied wine starts off with a nice hit of peach, green apple, and nectarine. The middle hits you with what I can only describe as sour apple candy - without the sugar - crazy acidity. The finish is strong with oak and a hint of nuts. However, the acidity is almost puckering and just throws everything off balance. Really quite a shame. The more I read about wine makers creating soups of concoctions (adding tannin, acidity, fining agents, etc), I wonder if there was a healthy dose of ph added to this wine during or after fermentation. The ph is so off and is not integrated with the wine at all. Just a thought.

David maybe you had a bad bottle of Katzrin 03 Chardonnay as I have had it recently and it was buttery and not at all oaky.

I was out to dinner and host asked me to choose a red. Yatir Forrest 03 or Jonathan Tishbi 2002 Cab Ben Zimra. Hard choice so I chose the latter but it did not matter as in the end we drank both. No need to tell you both superb in there own rights.

Friday night I opened a 2005 Covenant Red C. I had sampled this about 6 or 8 months ago and was sorely disappointed as it seemed almost thin. It has improved, somewhat, but not anywhere near to justifying the price. I bought it to patronize a wine store here that started carrying a wider selection of kosher wine. So not a loss in my book.Shabbat morning we had a nice quiet lunch at home, I opened a 2006 Galil Mtn CS. I made a mistake here as I think this needs at least another year, but this definitely shows much promise.Shavua Tov all.

(aka newlawyer)Is this stuff on the level or are you just making it up as you go along? (Groucho)

No wine this Friday evening; but we did enjoy Carmel's crisp grape juice for kiddush .

Shabbat day we popped open once again the kosher Cava Castell d'Olerdola, Semi-Seco, Cava, n.v.. I did not enjoy this wine as much as did a few weeks ago, but it is a bargain sparkler at 50 NIS (~$14 US) and the only kosher Cava of which I am aware. (I took the liberty of transplanting Rogov's note from Stratsplace to our forum for ease of searching.)

Castell d'Olerdola, Semi-Seco, Cava, n.v. (Kosher Edition): Not so much semi-seco but indeed quite sweet and thus destined primarily as a dessert wine. Sharp bubbles, a long mousse and appealing aromas and flavors of citrus and tropical fruits on a background of as a "French toast" background. Could use a bit more acidity to add liveliness. Drink now. Score 84. K